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Full Name:

Eric Pender

Display Name:

Eric Pender

Favorite Thing About SEO:

Understanding how The Google works.

Bio:

I am a Chicago-based Internet marketing professional specializing in search engine optimization. I currently work for SMG Search, a division of Starcom MediaVest, in the Chicago Loop. I am a graduate of Michigan State University and DePaul University.

I agree with you Pete. Certainly Google has a very strong brand, but it is important to keep in mind how they got there. They didn't put out a whole bunch of TV and radio and print ads to try to cram their brand down people's throats. They succeeded on word-of mouth. And 9 times out of 10, why does word of mouth work so well? It's because a company is doing such a good job at what they do, that it makes people want to tell their friends. January 26, 2009

Me: This is great news. So you want to join the conversation, interact with your customers, and really embrace your community!

Client: Oh absolutely not. We want to squash all of these bad reviews from Google.

Me: Um, well, you realize that there are A LOT of bad reviews out there. Perhaps you may want to improve your product? Or at least engage the community and tell them that you are listening to them and working on making a fix?

Client: Listen? I'm sorry, can't you just get these rankings off of the first page?

Me: Well, perhaps. But there is a bigger issue here.

Client: Great, so let's just have you get these off the first page and we'll keep everything status quo around here.